ON LOADING PUNT-GUNS 211 



previous six. Needless to state, this fowler was delighted 

 beyond words. He told us that the difiference he found 

 in the strength of the shooting of this gun after the new 

 arrangement was far beyond his expectations. The real 

 shooting of a punt-gun and all other wildfowl guns can never 

 be as well tested as when actually tried at fowl. " Plating" 

 shots from guns serve their purpose, but we must all admit 

 there is no better way to try a gun than by putting it to its 

 work. 



In the case of a muzzle-loading swivel-gun and a plain 

 breech, if the detonator is good, the flash from the ignition 

 cuts clean into the centre of the bulk charge at the base, by the 

 continuation of a groove across the inside of the breech and in 

 a line with the vent. Probably the best and most reliable 

 ignitions used for firing muzzle-loading punt-guns are the 

 simple tube and double cap arrangements. The tube is not 

 recommended for large charges (say over three ounces of 

 powder), when rather too sudden a shock on explosion 

 would be felt. Nipples, single and double, should be bushed 

 with platinum at the ends of flash-holes. This metal, though 

 expensive, in a marked degree prevents the flame widening 

 the nipple channels, which, in the absence of platinum, would 

 rapidly occur. In twin-cap ignition, where an excess of 

 priming can be used, an escape hole is generally placed under- 

 neath, by which means the overcharge can escape. 



Although we have been referring, up to the present, to 

 muzzle -loading punt-guns alone, the matter illustrates the 

 theory of proper ignition of big guns better than an 

 ordinary reference to breech-loading swivel-guns. In the 

 instance of an excess of ignition in a well-designed muzzle- 

 loading gun, there is an escape for the overcharge. In a 

 breech-loading weapon this is impracticable ; thus for good 

 results the correct amount of priming must be loaded in the 

 firing cartridge or tube. Of course, all who have used breech- 



